With remarkable achievements from its efforts thus far, the “Protecting Every Owl” project created by the NPUST Institute of Wildlife Conservation and Farglory Life Insurance is now entering its third year. A sharing session was held at 9:30 a.m. on October 20th in the Second Conference Room at the NPUST Administration Building, with NPUST President Chin-Lung Chang co-hosting the meeting together with Farglory Life Insurance general manager, Hsueh-hsin Chao. During the session, the NPUST Institute of Wildlife Conservation explained that over the past three years, from the perspective of University Social Responsibility (USR), it has facilitated the growth of owl populations in several ecological restoration bases. It has also created relevant curriculum to get rural school children acquainted with ecological education, and has encouraged local farmers to create raptor habitats in their fields by setting up perches and nest boxes. Farglory has been using its corporate power to help the “Protecting Every Owl” project expand in reach and influence as they continue to practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) in ways that are catching very positive attention.
President Chin-Lung Chang of NPUST said in his speech: “NPUST continues to carry out this environmental protection and ecological restoration project with Farglory Life Insurance, and the results of our mutual cooperation thus far are very outstanding and eye-catching. Through the use of biological control methods, we can improve public health, protect ecosystems and reduce the impact of pesticides. I hope that we can continue to reap greater benefits as we promote such meaningful pursuits, so that in addition to seeing flourishing ecosystems, we can also set the best example for each other as we contribute to society”.
Farglory General Manager Hsueh-hsin Chao said: “Farglory supports NPUST’s USR team as they help companies invest in ecological conservation. This action resulted in Farglory Life Insurance winning the Taiwan Insurance Institute’s Excellence Award, the Taiwan Sustainability Action Award, and the Asia Responsible Enterprise Award—and make the shortlist for the Global Vision Magazine ESG Corporate Responsibility Award. The results are beyond expectations, and I hope very much that we can continue to work together with NPUST on this “USR X CSR” conservation work”.
The “Protecting Every Owl” project, which was launched three years ago, currently has ecological restoration bases in Pingtung’s Gaoshu, Hengchun, and Checheng townships and also in the ShengHsian Community of Tainan’s Dongshan District. Working in these areas, teachers and students from the NPUST Institute of Wildlife Conservation have helped erect a total of 13 field perches and 81 owl nest boxes. When conducting ecological restoration surveys, a total of 53 species of birds, including 9 species of protected raptors were recorded (black-winged kite, crested goshawk, sparrow hawk, crested serpent eagle, gray-faced buzzard, crested honey buzzard, common kestrel, collared scops owl, brown hawk owl). Thanks to the nest box installations, a total of 7 pairs of collared scops owls got settled in and bred 16 young birds, which successfully matured and left the nest. Huishan Lin, a doctoral student at NPUST who is responsible for this project, said: “The most important thing about University Social Responsibility (USR) is whether university teachers and students can put actions to practice that contribute to society. The ecological surveys we conduct in the field are more than records, more importantly they help influence local communities to take action together. And so, the farmers who are willing to change their farming methods in these in ecological restoration bases are playing a key role.”
